Employee Trust, Commitment and Satisfaction as Moderators of the Effects of Idealized and Consideration Leadership on Voluntary Performance: A Structural Equation Investigation

Article excerpt

This study examined the causal effects of idealized and consideration leadership and the mediating roles of trust, commitment, and satisfaction on the performance of voluntary employees. Based on the LISREL model, this study demonstrated that idealized leadership both directly and indirectly affected the voluntary performance of employees, mediated through follower trust, commitment, and satisfaction in their leader. The results demonstrated that consideration leadership directly influences satisfaction, while idealized leadership directly influences trust. Notably, commitment directly and significantly influences employee voluntary performance. Consideration does not influence follower trust due to the lack of visionary effects. Again, idealized leadership does not influence follower satisfaction, owing to the limitations of the motivation effects. The analytical results demonstrated that the model for measuring leadership practices was valid and reliable.

1. Introduction

Effective leadership can be essential to success in numerous groups. Recognizing various leadership practices and how they influence trust, commitment, and satisfaction in an organization is essential, thus enabling managers to maximize employee productivity. Commitment has also been found to strongly influence employee productivity (Wallace & Weese, 1995).

Pertinent literature revealed extensive material relating to leadership type, trust, commitment, satisfaction, and voluntary performance of employees. However, the relationships among all these variables have received little attention. Moreover, there is also very little information regarding these concepts at National Defense University in Taiwan. This study focused mainly on three specific employee performance behaviors, namely loyalty, cooperation, and participation (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, 1994). These three behaviors are also known as the voluntary performance of employees] (Bettencourt, 1997). Recently, some marketing scholars have also found that trust, commitment and satisfaction are important constructs influencing employee performance behavior (Bettencourt, 1997; Garbarino & Johnson, 1999). However, to date research no research on the military has simultaneously considered the impacts of these three concepts. Thus, this study defined a more robust model for testing employee voluntary performance behaviors in the military and noted employee voluntary performance behaviors.

The central goal of this study was to devise a model for determining employee voluntary performance behaviors in a reliable study. Employee voluntary performance behavior and membership status are crucial but empirical research is limited. Other research and operations management focuses on employee satisfaction and stresses its importance in determining employee performance behavior (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). Because of its limited focus, this study ignores other important factors such as trust and commitment, which significantly influence employee voluntary performance. Employee voluntary performance was considered helpful, and discretionary employee behaviors, for example loyalty, cooperation, and participation (Singh & Sirdeshmukh, 2000).

For academics, this study provides useful insights regarding the motivations of employee voluntary performance behaviors via an empirical investigation. For practitioners, this study provides ideas regarding the development of causal relationships among idealized leadership, consideration leadership, relationship quality and the voluntary performance of employees.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Setting

During the last two decades, a new genre of leadership theories and models has emerged, frequently termed transformational leadership (Bryman, 1992). Evidence indicates that ideal leadership influences the performance of followers in various ways. However, most research linking idealized leadership and/or consideration leadership to performance has been cross-sectional and based on correlational analyses. …